Mayo Bridge
October 2024 Update:
The promised VDOT Citizen Information Meeting open house took place on September 17, 2024. Three concepts were displayed, all featuring four lanes of traffic. Staff spoke with both the project manager, William Wheeler, and the VDOT Section 106 team, who reiterated that they were still very early in the design process, and that the featured designs were not in fact the only/final options. As a Section 106 Consulting Party, we are currently awaiting a consulting letter from VDOT to coordinate eligibility for resources within the APE (Area of Potential Effects), which we have been told will arrive in the next few weeks. Please see infographic below for a description of where we are in the Section 106 process.
We’ll be posting all of our comment letters here throughout the process, but just to reiterate, Historic Richmond feels that if this historic landmark needs to be replaced, it should be replaced with an equally significant structure that preserves the cultural significance of the original, rather than the appearance. The 1910 Mayo Bridge was an architectural masterpiece, built in the spirit of unification between Richmond and Manchester. A new bridge should likewise reflect the spirit of this unique and vibrant city for another hundred years. This is not just construction, it is placemaking, and the people of Richmond deserve a bridge that is designed with them in mind-a beautiful and architecturally significant structure with dedicated space for recreation and multi-modal transportation.
July 2024
The site of the current Mayo Bridge has been continuously occupied by a bridge since John Mayo was granted a charter to build the first bridge to connect the north and south banks of the James River in 1785. Mayo’s son, John Mayo, Jr., received authorization from the General Assembly to continue his father’s work. The first Mayo Bridge was a wooden structure that opened in 1788, and it was the first span across the James River. Floods in 1790, 1802, 1813, 1835, 1847, and 1877, and the 1865 Evacuation Fire ended the service of successor bridges. The bridge’s importance to the local economy grew as the twin cities of Richmond and Manchester grew.
When Manchester was annexed to the City of Richmond in 1910, a term of the consolidation agreement required a new bridge to connect Hull and 14th Streets. Thus began the construction of the current Mayo Bridge. It opened to the public in 1913, a beautiful example of Beaux Arts architecture that for the first time in its history was toll free-a concrete tribute to the goal of integrating the two cities. The bridge was designed by Concrete Steel Engineering Company of New York and built by I. J. Smith & Company of Richmond. Charles Bolling, City Engineer, and G. M. Bowers, engineer in charge, supervised the construction of the bridge. Architectural embellishments include gentle arches, solid cast concrete panels with a molded lattice decorative motif for railings and obelisks. In 2000, the Mayo Bridge was listed as a contributing structure on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), acknowledging its value as both architecture and the historical connection point between the commercial and industrial center of Manchester and Richmond’s financial district. It has also been deemed individually eligible for listing on the NRHP.
The State declared the Mayo Bridge to be structurally deficient in 2021, announcing a tentative rehabilitation project. In March of 2022, City officials announced that the bridge would be replaced, rather than repaired. At this point Historic Richmond spoke before the Urban Design Commission, advocating for the immediate initiation of the Section 106 Process and robust community engagement to create a multi-modal, pedestrian-oriented structure. Our status as a consulting party for the Section 106 Process was confirmed in September 2023. VDOT released a public survey in the summer of 2024, soliciting feedback on current conditions and priorities. Historic Richmond sent a comment letter in response, which you can read here. Per the VDOT project website, a Citizen Information Meeting is anticipated for late 2024. Stay tuned for more opportunities to weigh in!
There has been a Mayo Bridge in this location since almost the beginning of Richmond. The one built at the time of unification of Richmond and Manchester is not only beautiful, but also historically, architecturally and culturally significant. It was built with the spirit of unification and optimism as a multimodal connector between the two sides of the river. If this bridge must be replaced, it should be replaced with another 100-year bridge that Richmonders will love. This is an opportunity for placemaking at its finest, with architectural significance and dedicated places for recreation and multimodal transport as well as for cars. The emphasis needs to be on people-people walking, people biking, people fishing- not vehicles.
Postcard by Richmond News Company.
